Osmanthus tea

I love Jasmine tea and Rose tea, and I've been wondering what this other floral tea is like. I've seen osmanthus oolong and osmanthus pouchong (like a green or very light oolong) from various companies.

Yes, I ordered some from TC Formosa Tea Company. It was an osmanthus scented oolong. The dried tea is very peachy scented. The infused tea is very lightly scented and smooth tasting. I was expected it to be more strongly scented, kind of like how jasmine tea is so strongly scented, but osmanthus scent is much more subtle to me.

After enjoying some "orchid oolong" I investigated a little and realized the flavor is from osmanthus flowers. Then I found some osmanthus blossoms at Vital Tea Leaf and have been adding a bit particularly to some yunnan gold black tea for a lovely fruity/floral fix. Happily, my local Wing Hop Fung also carries the straight osmanthus, so this is a fix I can continue indefinitely.

I was curious, too, since I am extremely fond of Jasmine flavored teas. I purchased some Numi White Nectar which I had read a few reviews on. I was really dissapointed as I couldn't taste even a hint of any floral or peachy/apricot notes that were described by others. It just tasted like a green tea (not even a white).

I would sure like to taste either an oolong or green with osmanthus that is really good but don't know where to turn.

One way to go is to get some osmanthus flowers and add them to your own teas. Birdpick.com is a web site maintained by the people who run my local tea shop, Wing Hop Fung, and they carry dried osmanthus flowers. They're not particularly cheap, but a little goes a long way. I have also seen them at Vital Tea in San Francisco (vitaltleaf.com).

I do have a little left of the first 'orchid oolong' I bought more than a year ago but I don't know where it came from, and it was in trying to figure out what was in it and how to get more that I found out that osmanthus was the key.

Chatsworth wrote:I would sure like to taste either an oolong or green with osmanthus that is really good but don't know where to turn.

I fell in love with an osmanthus oolong from a local shop by where my parents live... but he does sell at least some of his teas online. I'm linking the site, it doesn't appear that it's listed, but you could always call and see if he'll ship to you.

It´s not an oolong but I recieved a sample of osmanthus scented long jing green tea from jing tea shop last year that was excellent...it was very sweet and smooth with a light floral scent and had a long aftertaste and it was blended so well that I couldn´t really separate the tea and flower flavours in my mind.

Unfortunately it doesn´t seem to be listed anymore but maybe it will show up again this spring with the fresh Long Jings

I know Upton's isn't exactly a prime vendor of oolongs, but in my early tea explorations, I ordered their Osmanthus Oolong and really enjoyed it. The fragrance was great, the flavor was sweet and smooth, and I'm sure the quality of the oolong was mediocre, but it's been over a year so I can't give a proper review. But, I liked it.... more subtle than Jasmine, but in a good way for me.

I wouldn't say all of Upton's oolongs are mediocre; I've tried a bunch of them and admittedly, they are inconsistent and lag far behind the quality of Upton's Indian teas...but I've found a couple gems in there...including the their se chung oolong.

Incidentally, I just tried their osmanthus-scented se chung, and I loved it. I found it a lot like people described--less overtly floral than jasmine. Unlike Jasmine or rose teas, I found that the floral qualities blended seamlessly with the oolong, to where it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. Now I want to try more!